Camargo Correa to buy Loma Negra , Argentina

20 April 2005

Brazilian cement maker Camargo Correa Cimentos, a unit of the local construction group Camargo Correa, will pay US$1.025bn for the Argentinean cement giant Loma Negra under an agreement signed on April 19, 2005.

Camargo Correa will also assume Loma Negra’s debts.

The agreement was signed between Camargo Correa and Loma Negra’s shareholder and Argentina’s wealthiest woman, Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, and envisages also the purchase of Loma Negra’s subsidiaries Compania de Servicios a la Construccion, Ferrosur, Recycomb and Cementos del Plata. Loma Negra has a 48 per cent market share in Argentina.

The agreement has to be approved by Argentinean antimonopoly commission CNDC and after that in May 2005 will be signed a final acquisition agreement.

Loma Negra produces over 3Mt of cement per year in its nine plants in Argentina. In turn, Camargo Correa Cimentos, that accounts for 12 per cent of the group’s revenue, is the fifth largest cement producer in Brazil with an eight per cent market share. The Brazilian company has a production capacity of 6Mta of cement.